Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Pinakbet Recipe

I don’t know if you will agree with me, but most of the kids
find it hard to swallow vegetables. Yes, just like me when I was kid. I am very
picky on what kind will I allow to reach my tummy. What I hated most is
ampalaya (bittermelon). For obvious reason that it is bitter and I don’t like
it’s look. I know it is nutritious and there’s a way to cook it so the bitter
taste will be masked. But still I don’t like it.

This is the reason why my recipe of Pinakbet (Pakbet) does
not have ampalaya. This dish is made of different vegetables and sautéed in
shrimp paste. It is also a popular Ilokano dish. In our house, we often served
this food with fried fish, sliced tomato and extra shrimp paste.

I like my pinakbet simple and with more butternut squash. Here’s my version of Pinakbet, hope you like it.

Ingredients:

300g shrimp (boiled and peeled)

3 tbsp of cooking oil (vegetable or sunflower oil)

3 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 medium size onion (chopped)

1 tomato (chopped)

2 eggplants (cut into pieces)

3 cups butternut squash (diced) ( you can reduce the amount if you like)

200g green beans/string beans (cut into 2 inches long)

2 tbsp shrimp paste

1 1/2 cups of water

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil the shrimps, peel them and set aside.

In a big pan or wok, heat the oil.

Sauté garlic, onion and tomato. It takes about 3-4 minutes until onions turned translucent and tomatoes become limp.

Stir in the shrimp paste.

Add the green beans and stir-fry for 5 minutes.

Add the butternut squash and eggplant along with 1 cup of water. Let it simmer for another 5 - 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Stir in the shrimps and add the remaining water if the vegetables are not yet tender and the sauce is drying up.

ahhh, that looks so yummy! I was an exception when I was a child, I only ate vegetables, and my favorite is bittermelon, up to now. However, because I had bad allergies and kind of weak, my doctor advised me to eat more proteins and a balanced diet, so I added fish to my diet, the first meat I could take without getting sick in the stomach. Up to now, I still sometimes get sick when I eat beef, so I kind of avoid eating meat. Anyway, I love veggies and sea foods, and pinakbet is one of my faovrite and your picture is just making me here dreamy of pinakbet now. :)

My dad is a true blue Ilocano and he always cooks Pinakbet for us. He cooks it with either shrimp paste or fish paste, and puts in either shrimps or lechon kawali. And yup, we also pair it with fried fish! Yum! Your version looks so good! :D

My husband loves Pinakbet, ampalaya and all. I'm not a veggie eater though so our version usually includes crispy liempo for the carnivorous me. :-) Oh and when I don't have shrimp paste, I make do with shrimp cubes.